I've said it before, and I'll say it again; the racing genre has become extremely overcrowded with games, but unlike the fighting genre or RPG genre, racers these days don't exactly feel like déjà vu. To put my example in perspective, can you compare Gran Turismo 3, with Rumble Racing, Test Drive: Wide Open or Extreme G3? For obvious reasons, I will not get into describing why you can't compare the prior mentioned four with one another. But is there room for more? Of course there is, like I said 'been there, done that' racers are somewhat far and between which is a very god thing. And here's where Activision's Supercar Street Challenge comes in. The game is a cross between Need for Speed and Ridge Racer, in the sense that these cars are so low-key in terms of publicity that it almost feels like you're driving something non-existent. Those who give this game a look within the next couple of weeks, will notice the drawn inspiration that was obviously taken from EA's Need For Speed franchise.

But you know what? This game suffers from an uncommon plague in a PS2 title, a very fractious frame rate. -Note to the absent minded: that's a very bad thing-. In fact, the frame rate becomes so edgy and inconsistent so frequently, that when you hit a road with not many objects and the frame rate adjusts itself to a higher rate (due to the lack of anything extraordinary on the screen) the eye feels a great amount of relaxation. Sadly though, it won't be a lengthy feeling. From every stage I've played so far; I've experienced poor frame rates that hamper my ability to make precise judgments in turning. The game does feature over a dozen prototype cars, many of which don't even have a set spec sheet, or have been in production. The game's most prestigious vehicle is the Saleen S7, a vehicle I personally witnessed at the NYC Auto Show in April of 2001. SSC's most promising feature is its custom car Styling Studio, which allows the gamer to take any car in the game, and completely change its front half of back half. It's an amazing feature, which works on the fly and literally sets you up with dozens of different car combinations. I would love to see this idea expanded upon or "incorporated" into another game.

The visual detail is a mixed back; on one side the vehicular detail is turd when compared to GT3 or even Driving Emotion Type-S. On the other hand, the background detail looks very polished and refined. The structure detail is quite solid and represents a good amount of detail that takes away the focus on the not so average car models. I think I'll end it here for now. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update on Supercar Street Challenge, I'll name the track locations, vehicles, other features, and let's not forget screenshots.